Ambush at Clamart

The presidential car sped along the road from Paris to Villacoublay Airport. Hurrying to catch the plane home to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises were President Charles de Gaulle and his wife Yvonne; up front with the chauffeur was the De Gaulles' son-in-law, Alain de Boissieu. Close behind followed a security car and two motorcycle policemen. As the small motorcade slowed down for a traffic circle in suburban Clamart, Old Soldier de Gaulle once again faced the guns of an enemy.

"Don't Stop!" A man jumped from the rear of a Renault panel truck and opened fire with a submachine gun. From a Citroen parked on the other side of the road 50 yds. ahead, two other gunmen sprayed the presidential convoy with bullets. As glass splintered and lead thudded into the chassis, Son-in-law de Boissieu shouted to the driver, "Above all, don't stop!" Then De Boissieu reached back and pulled De Gaulle and his wife to the floor. The driver stepped on the gas and narrowly averted a smashup when another burst of gunfire blew out two of the special "puncture-proof" tires.

Stepping from his car in the safety of Villacoublay Airport, De Gaulle remarked, "These people really can't shoot straight." Then, staring at the bullet-riddled car, he added, "But I was lucky. This time it was a close shave." It was indeed. There were at least ten holes in the Citroen; one bullet, smashing through the rear window, missed De Gaulle's head by inches.

The President was pushing his luck: in the past eleven months, he has escaped from a gasoline bomb that exploded in flames in front of his car at Pont-sur-Seine, emerged unscathed from a planned ambush at Vesoul, where a six-man "suicide squad" was waiting to kill him with rifles fitted out with telescopic sights. There was even an abortive plot by his enemies to blast him with bazookas on the steps of the Elysee Palace.

Conspirators in Exile. Last week's attempt was planned by former soldiers, said police, pointing to the tactical use of crossfire in the ambush. Unquestionably, it was again the work of the Secret Army Organization, which has assigned nine "suicide squads" to the task of eliminating De Gaulle. Since fleeing from Algeria, S.A.O. gunmen have murdered scores of S.A.O. enemies, and obtained over $1,500,000 in holdups of French banks and post offices. Just minutes before the ambush at Clamart, De Gaulle had presided over an emergency Cabinet meeting called to take steps against S.A.O. terrorism.

There is no doubt that the S.A.O.'s exiled leaders, particularly ex-Premier Georges Bidault and ex-Cabinet Minister Jacques Soustelle, hope to overthrow the De Gaulle regime by a combination of legal and illegal activities. In hiding with Bidault is ex-Colonel Antoine Argoud, who opposed S.A.O. terrorism in Algeria only because "the fate of the nation will be decided in Paris." Conspirator Soustelle was arrested two weeks ago in Milan, and tossed out of Italy as politically "undesirable." Then he vanished, probably to take refuge in Spain, where S.A.O. Treasurer Dr. Jean-Claude Perez controls an estimated $2,000,000 stolen from Algeria, and where S.A.O. diehards such as ex-Paratroop Colonel Pierre Chateau-Jobert are training additional suicide squads.

Constitutional Gap. The ambush at Clamart brought a clamor for tighter security measures around De Gaulle. Why, asked Paris newspapers angrily, was there such a small police escort? Interior Minister Roger Frey grumbled, "One could scream with rage, but De Gaulle refuses to listen to any security plans." De Gaulle even turned down the suggestion that he fly by helicopter from Paris to his home at Colombey because making a landing zone would require cutting down a favorite elm tree in his garden.

De Gaulle's bland disregard for his own safety is a matter of national concern, for much more than a man's life is at stake. Apart from their personal hatred for the man, one reason the S.A.O. killers so persistently try to kill De Gaulle is the hope of taking control of the country in the chaos that would follow his death. Under the French Constitution there is no successor to the President. Theoretically, the Speaker of the Senate would exercise the President's functions while arranging for new elections within 50 days. The present Senate Speaker is Gaston Monnerville, 65, a veteran Negro politician from French Guiana, who has no political following in France and little personal popularity.

If De Gaulle were to die, argue the S.A.O. leaders, there would be only two tightly organized groups in France: themselves and the Communist Party. The S.A.O. feels confident it could then weld together all those conservative and military elements that fear the Communists into a coalition that would back the S.A.O. candidate in a constitutional bid for control of the nation.

To avoid this dilemma, the influential Paris newspaper Le Monde begged De Gaulle to confer with the other democratic parties and "work out the conditions for his own succession and for the survival of the republic." At week's end in his home at Colombey, where he was surrounded by 2,000 heavily armed guards, De Gaulle was reportedly giving new thought to a revision of the constitution that will empower a Vice President, elected by the nation, to take office in the event of death or removal of the head of state.

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